The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program begun in 1975 under the direction of the inventor, Donald Alfred Skelton, a citizen of New Zealand. The seed parent is the unpatented, proprietary seedling variety referred to as Actinidia chinensis ‘R5’ The pollen parent is the unpatented, proprietary seedling variety referred to as Actinidia chinensis ‘RY.’
Fruit of the new variety was first evaluated in 1999 with favorable results. After the first evaluation, semi-hardwood cuttings were made of ‘Y118’ and were grafted onto 5 seedling rootstocks 3; of A. chinensis and 2 of A. deliciosa. Evaluation, asexual propagation and grafting all first took place at the inventor's commercial nursery in Rangiriri, New Zealand in 1999. Subsequent evaluations of the variety have shown the characteristics to be true to type.